Bed Sheets

33. For Eric

4 years later

"The release of the paperback version of A Road to Hell by Draven H. Malcom reached the highest sold paperback novel in history, surpassing J.K Rowling by three hundred thousand. He is certainly the most incredible comic book author that has ever come to us, ever since the release of Cold Shoulder, who brought him the attention worldwide."

He smirked, as his staff members stared at the screen in admiration. He was due to be at a press conference in London, England in about a month, and had a few other around the country during the upcoming weeks. Jason and Rebecca, who had been rehired, were standing by their senior employees desk, that were near his office. They were all watching the news unfold, all about Draven.

Suddenly, he lowered the volume, but the news kept playing behind, "I just wanted to say thank you to my editing team, since I would not have been able to do this without you guys. And that being said, hence why I'm going to pay all of you guys double today if only you join..." the elevator door opened just in time, and he pointed to the back, "...the party!"

Trays of champagne were carried, and all the employees jumped to their feet, cheering with applauds as Draven did the honours of opening the first bottle, "To success!"

"To success!" All the employees chimed afterwards, laughing as they all grabbed their glass and began drinking as well, Draven drinking from the bottle he had in hand.

Jason and Rebecca both gave him high fives, to which he chuckled, and went to grab their own glass. He had been doing awesome lately, and his secretary smiled at him, seeing how cheerful he was. It had been tough when Eric left, but it was nice to see, after all those years, Draven having finally moved onwards and bettering himself as an individual.

The employees began chugging their glass, food was ordered, authors from different floors descended, music started blaring, and when they turn to the television, it was the news reporters talking about none other than Draven H. Malcom.

He was worldwide, considered famous rather than well-known, having one of the biggest fanbase in the world. It came to the point that he had to move in a place much more secure than his condo, and had finally divorced ridiculous Adelina who never thought he would.

He had found a way for only a quarter of his assets to be handed to her, and although it was a lot, it was nothing compared to what he had now. Hence why, he drank to everything; to the success that embraced them every year.

However, when someone noticed a surprising face on the screen, the staff member pointed to the screen. All eyes began to turn, and it was only seconds later that Draven noticed the floor had gone quiet. When he turned to find out what it was, his own eyes widened in shock.

The secretary grabbed the remote immediately, and powered off the television, "Everyone go back to drinking—"

"No," he snatched the remote from her grip, and turned the television back on, raising the volume for all of them to hear.

"Another successful outburst was from Eric Valence, who had not been seen or spoken of ever since his relationship with Draven. Eric had been appointed co-author of Draven years ago, where he worked at Limits Agency. As of now, Eric who self-published his book Love Has Tears, an autobiography of himself, has now reached New York Best Sellers chart, coming in first. It has sold copies worldwide, in over a hundred different languages."

"We have him here with us, Eric Valence, how are you today?"

The screen turned to Eric. He appeared a bit bulkier, having more built to him. He even had a trimmed lineup on his jaw, and his hair was in a bun. His face was bright, as he reached over and extended his palm to the news reporter, "I'm great, how about you?"

"Doing fine myself. Now Eric, tell us a bit about Love Has Tears."

Eric shrugged his shoulders, and spoke with such confidence that Draven blinked; he had grown.

"It's honestly just a book of the obstacles I had to grow from. I had a few relationships that were mentally stressful, andI lost my best friend a few years ago. That's when I started the book, after I moved away from my town; it helped me look forward into my life rather than backwards."

The interview nodded their head, "Such strong character, we are all proud of you. Now tell me, none have seen you with Draven H. Malcom recently—"

"I don't want to talk about him," Eric dismissed rapidly, which caused the interview to chuckle awkwardly.

The secretary sharply turned her head to Draven who had his eyebrows raised.

"That's fine, we also wanted to ask if you had any pointers for the aspiring writer's within our community?"

Eric nodded his head, "I worked my whole life for this. I went from writing in magazines to being an editor, and now I finally achieved my goal. Hence why, the only thing I can say, is to never give up your dream."

The interviewer nodded its head, and then Eric thanked him, shared goodbyes and the screen changed to the en t news, which was the weather.

The staff had gone quiet, and nobody really knew what to do.

It was Jason who did it first, and raised his glass in the air, saying, "For Eric."

At first, none responded, but Rebecca did it next, "For Eric."

"For Eric," the secretary lifted her glass.

Miranda was next, "For Eric."

It went through the whole room, until Draven was the last one who had not yet said anything. Eventually, he raised the entire bottle in his palm, and although a part of him still missed Eric, he quietly said, "For Eric."

The End